


The perfect gift

by LadyNighty12



Series: Eremin Week 2020 baby [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dogs, Fake previews AU, Fluff, Gen, Gifts, How Do I Tag, M/M, modern American high school AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNighty12/pseuds/LadyNighty12
Summary: “Armin, I swear, you could give Eren a box as a birthday gift and he would still thank you”“That’s not true” he tried to ignore Mikasa’s glare at first, but even he had to admit it was bullshit “Well okay, maybe it is, but that doesn’t mean I should just give him anything and call it a day! It’s his birthday! And the first birthday we spend as boyfriends! I can’t fuck this up”Eren's birthday is coming, and Armin doesn't know what to give him.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Series: Eremin Week 2020 baby [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686235
Comments: 3
Kudos: 70
Collections: Ereminweek 2020





	The perfect gift

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in the High School Au of the fake previews of the manga, but you don't need to read them to understand. Just know that they're already dating, Mikasa is goth, and I will go down with this ship.  
> Also, English isn't my first language so if you see any mistakes, feel free to point them out.

“Armin, I swear, you could give Eren a box as a birthday gift and he would still thank you”

“That’s not true” he tried to ignore Mikasa’s glare at first, but even he had to admit it was bullshit “Well okay, maybe it is, but that doesn’t mean I should just give him anything and call it a day! It’s his birthday! And the first birthday we spend as boyfriends! I can’t fuck this up”

Mikasa sighed, putting down her phone and sitting up to look at him “I know, Armin. But you’re exaggerating”

“I’m not”

“Oh, so turning down the almost thirty ideas for a gift I gave you is a perfectly calm reaction?”

Armin didn’t want to answer that, so he did the only reasonable thing he could do. He threw himself face first into his bed and let Mikasa interpret that however she wanted. Knowing the girl, she would predict his thoughts perfectly.

He knew Mikasa was really trying to help, but each and every one of her suggestions (as well as his own ideas) would fail to make Eren’s gift perfect. He wanted perfection! Eren deserved it, and anything less than a perfect gift would make Armin feel like a failure of a boyfriend.

Eren had done so much for him already: he saved him from the bullies, he became his friend despite how Mikasa and him annoyed him at first, he took him to conventions in other cities since he was the only one of the trio with a driving permit, and above all, he cared about him and his opinions. And now he was his boyfriend. A boyfriend that had managed to get him for his birthday the action figure he had been looking for since he was a kid. He still didn’t know how Eren had managed to do that, considering the figure was as expensive as it was rare, but since everything in his house was still there when he went to hang out, and (as the check up he did when his parents finally left indicated) he wasn’t missing any organs, Armin was happy with not knowing. Yet, at least.

“Say,” he lifted his head a little, finding Mikasa laying on her stomach while doing whatever young modern witches do in their phones “what are you going to get him?”

“A good luck amulet, as well as a coupon he can use if he wants me to curse someone” she shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Armin let his head fall back in the pillow, defeated. He had thought maybe he could get an idea by asking Mikasa about the gift she would give to Eren, but it was a total fail.

Another while passed in silence, with Armin trying to fuse with his bed and Mikasa calmly giving him time to give up and accept one of her ideas, or even to just buy Eren one of those cute necklaces from social media ads. She knew Eren would love whatever Armin gave him, in fact, it wouldn’t take long for someone to know that just by looking at Eren’s puppy eyes whenever Armin did something he considered cute. Like the time he gave a deep, love-struck sigh worthy of a 19th century poet secretly pinning for the baker’s son while he looked at Armin maniacally scream at his enemies as he beat them in that video game he loved so much.

They both had it bad.

While scrolling through Instagram, low-key wanting to find that necklace ad, she found another ad that caught her attention “Hey, isn’t Recon that band Eren was talking about the other day?”

The bed replied something like “Yes, why?”

“They’re coming to town next month for a concert”

And, as if her words had been a spell, the bed freed Armin and he fell to the floor.

“That’s it Mikasa, I just need to get him a ticket!”

* * *

That was easier said than done, though.

He tried everything. Everything. But the tickets had been sold out for two weeks, and none of his contacts were able to get him even a single ticket. So now he was walking home, two days before Eren’s birthday, watching the sunset and desperately trying to come up with a new gift idea.

He had been so sure he would manage to get a ticket he hadn’t made a Plan B like he normally did, and now he was flooding with regret, hoping a good idea would struck him so he wouldn’t have to resort to buy him clothes or something like that. Of course, he could buy him a Recon t-shirt, but he knew Eren already owned some. He had even stolen one a month ago. In his defense, it was comfy and smelled like his boyfriend so… what was a guy supposed to do?

Well, now said guy was looking at everything, people, stores, cars, the pavement, absolutely fucking everything as if the answer to his problem would just magically appear.

It didn’t.

Armin definitely wasn’t close to tears, so like the not-about-to-cry man he was he stopped walking and sat at a bench in the park he had been crossing. It was a little park, with just a playground and a fountain, but despite the hour there were still couples sitting, kids playing on the swings and people walking their dogs. Looking at them helped him calm down, so he decided to stay there for a few more minutes.

It occurred while he watched a pitbull play with a little kid.

The idea.

It finally came to him.

It didn’t suddenly struck him like he had been expecting, it was more like a gentle breeze whispering in his ear and telling him something along the lines of “There, you fucking idiot”

A dog. He could adopt a dog for Eren.

Eren had problems being vulnerable with people, and with communicating his feelings, plus a lot more of issues like him being prone to anger. And Armin knew he couldn’t help with all of that, he knew that even if Eren opened up to him there would still be things he would have to do alone, and it pained him to think of that. So maybe… maybe a pet would dry Eren’s tears and hear his sorrows when no one else would be able to.

He had work to do.

Starting tomorrow, his clock reminded him.

* * *

“What the-”

“Eren! Dear, you surely took your time today to wake up” Armin suppressed a smirk as he watched Eren's mom get up from her seat to hug a very confused and yet barely awake Eren. He couldn't blame him though, it was not everyday one would walk into their kitchen and find their boyfriend casually eating breakfast with their parents.

“Well, it's his special day, after all” Eren's dad smiled at his wife, and got up as well to sandwich his son like they did every year. It might have been a little awkward since Eren just kept getting taller, but they made it work.

Armin just kept eating his pancakes, trying not to laugh at his boyfriend’s embarrassed face. To be fair, his plan hadn’t included eating breakfast with Eren’s parents, he had just wanted to wait patiently until he woke up and then jump at him with gift and everything. But of course Mrs. Jaeger wouldn’t let him sit uncomfortably at the living room, no sir. Not when there was a great amount of breakfast and a growing possibly-future-son-in-law.

While Eren’s muffled protests were silenced by the voices of his parents singing the happy birthday song in English and what Armin suspected was German, he took a gulp of his coffee and gave himself the best mental pep talk he could manage to do with zero hours of sleep and a whole lot of nervousness. Everything was ready, Eren was awake, he even had his parents approval, nothing could go wrong. Nothing would go wrong.

With a final squish and a kiss in the forehead, Eren’s mother released him and turned to look at Armin, unknowingly stopping the mad spiral his thoughts were becoming “Well, Armin, didn’t you have something to show him?”

He just nodded, and ignoring the way Eren was looking at him trying to get an answer he took his hand and together they walked to the yard. Before they opened the door to get outside, he instructed Eren to close his eyes.

“This couldn’t get weirder” he mumbled, but obeyed and squished Armin’s hand to signal he was ready.

When they walked into the yard, Armin stopped holding his hand. Before Eren could even protest, he took the gift and hugged it to his boyfriend’s chest. The gift being a cute, energetic Golden Retriever puppy that immediately began licking Eren’s face.

“Happy birthday, Eren” he whispered, looking at the excited face Eren had while cooing at the puppy.

The beaming smile he got as an answer made him think that yes, his gift had been perfect.

* * *

“What are you going to name her?”

A pause. Then a chuckle.

“Chicken nu-”

“No”

“Fair enough”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if the end is a little rushed, I ran out of inspiration


End file.
